Separate the management company from the managed property
The central question for any carrier is who owns the building and who manages it. The proposal must identify the named insured for each coverage, and the issued forms, endorsements, and named-insured schedules control how the manager and owner are insured.[1]
McGowan's property-managers professional-liability application illustrates how one carrier draws this line. Questions 19 through 23 separately ask whether the management company carries E&O insurance, whether commercial general liability is in place on every managed property, whether the manager is named as an additional insured on each property owner's CGL policy, and whether the manager must procure or maintain insurance for managed properties.[1]
Hiscox describes professional liability—also called errors and omissions—as coverage for claims against a property management business that provides professional services. Its examples include a wrongful-eviction suit and a tenant-discrimination claim. These are exposures tied to the manager's decisions, distinct from the building owner's premises or structural risks.[4]
Travelers lists general liability, property, commercial auto, umbrella, workers' compensation, business income rental value, equipment breakdown, and cyber among the lines available for real-estate owners and managers. Not every line belongs to the manager in every account—the issued policy determines which entity is the named insured for each coverage.[3]
Cover the company's premises and daily operations
The management company's own office, furniture, computers, and signage are business property—distinct from a client's building. Travelers describes its business owner's policy as a small-business package that combines general liability and commercial property. Its property portion can protect owned, leased, or rented business property and can include business income and extra expense after a covered loss. The page also lists optional protection for hired or non-owned vehicles used for work.[2]
Whether a particular management company qualifies for a BOP, and what the issued policy covers, depends on the carrier's eligibility rules, covered causes, limits, deductibles, and endorsements. Travelers lists commercial real estate among eligible BOP classes, but the page does not guarantee that every property manager qualifies or that every listed option is included.[2]
Travelers' real-estate offering separately lists general liability, property, commercial auto, umbrella, and workers' compensation among available lines for owners and managers. A management company evaluating these lines should confirm which entity—the manager or the building owner—is the named insured on each policy and whether the coverage applies to the company's own premises or to a managed building.[3]
- General liability: verify the named insured is the management entity and that the policy responds to the company's own premises and operations.[2][3]
- Business property: verify the schedule lists property the management company owns or is contractually responsible for, not a client's building.[2]
- Business income: confirm the trigger is a covered loss at the company's own premises, not lost management fees from a client's property loss.[2]
- Umbrella or excess liability: check that underlying policies meet the umbrella's required minimum limits and that the umbrella follows form over each scheduled policy.[3]
Coverage questions in this guide
A shared record keeps related coverage questions in one place.
- Professional liability (E&O)
Hiscox describes professional liability as coverage for claims against a property management business that provides professional services, with examples including wrongful-eviction suits and tenant-discrimination claims. McGowan's program adds features such as failure to place insurance, bookkeeping services, fair-housing coverage, and optional consequential bodily-injury coverage. Coverage, exclusions, and extensions vary by carrier and issued form.[4][5]
Review: Compare the policy's definition of professional services, retroactive date, defense treatment, exclusions, and optional extensions in the actual proposal.
- General liability and business property
Travelers describes its BOP as a small-business package combining general liability and commercial property for eligible businesses. Its property portion can protect owned, leased, or rented business property. Whether the management company qualifies and what the issued policy covers depends on the carrier's eligibility rules and endorsements.[2][3]
Review: Verify the named insured is the management entity and the property schedule lists only property the company owns or is contractually responsible for.
- Fidelity and crime
Travelers describes fidelity and crime insurance as protection against fraudulent or dishonest acts, including employee dishonesty, theft of money and securities, forgery, funds-transfer fraud, computer fraud, and social-engineering fraud. Whether a particular loss involving client funds is covered depends on the issued form's triggers, verification requirements, and sublimits.[6]
Review: Check who owns the covered funds, the fraud trigger, verification-control requirements, sublimits, and exclusions in the issued form.
- Cyber insurance
The FTC recommends comparing first-party coverage (data recovery, notification, lost income, cyberextortion, fraud, forensics) and third-party coverage (affected-person payments, litigation, regulatory inquiries, damages). This is general guidance—the issued policy's terms determine which incidents and costs are covered.[7]
Review: Compare the cyber policy against the crime policy for business-email-compromise and ransomware scenarios and confirm sublimits and pre-approval requirements.
- Commercial auto
Travelers' real-estate offering lists commercial auto among available lines and specifically includes liability from an employee using a personal vehicle for business. Coverage depends on whether the vehicle is owned, hired, or non-owned and on the issued policy's terms.[3]
Review: Confirm whether the policy covers non-owned auto if employees drive personal vehicles to managed properties.
- Workers' compensation
State-governed coverage that can pay medical care and lost income for employees injured on the job. The U.S. Department of Labor directs private employers to their state board. Texas, as one example, does not require most private employers to carry it. Obligations, thresholds, and exemptions are determined by applicable state law.[8][9]
Review: Contact your state workers' compensation board for the current purchase requirement, employee definition, and exemptions.
Protect the decisions made for owners and tenants
General liability and professional liability address different exposures. Hiscox describes its property-management professional liability as coverage for claims against a business that provides professional services. Its examples include a wrongful-eviction suit and a tenant-discrimination claim, and the page says its policy may cover defense costs, settlements, or judgments subject to its terms. Whether a particular management error triggers coverage depends on the issued policy's definition of professional services, exclusions, and conditions.[4]
McGowan's property-managers E&O program is claims-made and lists carrier-specific features including failure to place or maintain insurance, bookkeeping services, cyber first-party coverage, fair-housing coverage, owned-property management, and optional consequential bodily-injury or property-damage coverage. The program is described for eligible property managers, community-association managers, and property preservationists in all states except Alaska and Hawaii.[5]
McGowan's application asks about tenant-screening procedures, eviction practices, repair authority, insurance-placement duties, and fair-housing compliance. Each question identifies an exposure the underwriter evaluates. An underwriting question does not prove that every resulting claim is covered—it shows where the carrier looks for risk.[10]
- Compare the definition of professional services in each proposal. McGowan's program lists property preservation and community-association management among eligible classes; another carrier's form may define the term more narrowly.[5]
- Confirm the retroactive date and prior-acts coverage on a claims-made form. McGowan's program is claims-made; a gap in retroactive dates can leave past work uninsured.[5]
- Ask whether defense costs erode the limit or sit outside it. Hiscox says its policy may cover defense costs subject to its terms—compare how each proposal treats defense.[4]
- Review exclusions, sublimits, and optional extensions. McGowan lists optional consequential bodily-injury coverage and fair-housing coverage as program features—these are not standard across all carriers.[5]
Treat client money and data as separate risks
A property management company may handle rent payments, security deposits, and owner disbursements. It may also store tenant personal information. E&O addresses professional errors, but employee theft, funds-transfer fraud, social engineering, computer fraud, data breaches, ransomware, and customer-notification costs involve different policy triggers. Whether a specific loss is covered depends on the issued crime or cyber policy's terms, not on the E&O form alone.[6][7][5]
Travelers describes fidelity and crime insurance as protection against fraudulent or dishonest acts, including employee dishonesty and theft, loss of money and securities, forgery or alteration, funds-transfer fraud, computer fraud, and social-engineering fraud. The page does not say that one policy includes every listed agreement or that a particular owner's rent or deposit is automatically covered—the issued form's triggers, verification requirements, and sublimits determine the result.[6]
The FTC's small-business cybersecurity guide recommends comparing first-party cyber coverage (data recovery, customer notification, lost income, cyberextortion, fraud, forensic services) and third-party cyber coverage (affected-person payments, claims expenses, litigation, regulatory inquiries, settlements, damages, judgments). The guide is general small-business guidance and does not define any one insurer's contract terms.[7]
McGowan's E&O program lists cyber first-party coverage as a carrier-specific feature. That does not mean every E&O policy includes it or that it replaces a standalone cyber policy. Compare the sublimit, covered incidents, and exclusions in any E&O cyber endorsement against a dedicated cyber form.[5]
Match vehicles and employee injuries to the real work
Property management employees may drive to inspect units, meet tenants, supervise repairs, and deliver notices. The correct auto coverage depends on who owns the vehicle and how it is used. Travelers' commercial-auto description for real-estate owners and managers specifically includes liability caused by an employee using a personal vehicle for business purposes.[3]
- Owned-auto liability: Travelers lists this among available lines for vehicles titled to the business.[3]
- Hired-auto liability: Travelers' BOP page lists optional protection for hired vehicles used for work.[2]
- Non-owned-auto liability: Travelers' real-estate page specifically includes liability from an employee using a personal vehicle for business.[3]
Workers' compensation obligations for private employers come from state law. The U.S. Department of Labor directs private-company employees injured on the job to their state workers' compensation board rather than establishing one national requirement.[8]
Texas illustrates one state's approach. The Texas Department of Insurance says workers' compensation can pay medical care and some lost income for employees hurt or made ill by their work, but Texas does not require most private employers to carry it. Government contracts can require coverage for employees on the project, and some contractors can require it of subcontractors or independent contractors.[9]
Give each carrier the same complete submission
Carriers cannot compare your risk if each one receives different information. Prepare a single submission package before you request quotes so every proposal prices the same exposure.[10]
- Legal entities, ownership structure, and years of experience.[10]
- Services performed and revenue broken out by residential and commercial property type.[10]
- Total managed units and the five largest managed properties, including any ownership interest.[10]
- Employee count, independent contractors, and subcontractor insurance requirements.[10]
- Written management-contract terms, including indemnification and insurance-procurement duties.[10]
- CGL status on each managed property and additional-insured practices.[1]
- Tenant-screening, eviction, repair-authority, and insurance-placement procedures.[10]
- Vehicle ownership and employee use of personal vehicles for inspections or property visits.[3]
- Current policies, requested limits, and preferred deductibles.[10]
- Five years of claims history, known circumstances, and loss runs.[10]
Property Covered is a property insurance marketplace operated by a licensed producer with access to more than 400 carriers and market options. Property managers can use the marketplace to compare available carrier terms. Licensed support is available by phone at (888) 693-8980 to discuss your next step. A quote request is free, carries no purchase obligation, and records your request for licensed follow-up. Carriers make the final eligibility, pricing, binding, policy, and claims decisions.
Related: How it works
Sources
- 1.McGowan Program Administrators – Property Managers Professional Liability Insurance Application
- 2.Travelers – Business Owner's Policy (BOP Insurance)
- 3.Travelers – Real Estate Owners Insurance Coverages
- 4.Hiscox – Property Management Insurance Professional & General Liability
- 5.McGowan Program Administrators – Property Managers Insurance
- 6.Travelers – Fidelity & Crime Insurance
- 7.Federal Trade Commission – Cybersecurity for Small Business
- 8.U.S. Department of Labor – Workers' Compensation
- 9.Texas Department of Insurance – Workers' compensation insurance guide
- 10.McGowan Program Administrators – Property Managers Professional Liability Insurance Application (quote inputs)
Common questions
A management company may need coverage separate from the building owner's policy, depending on the entities, contracts, and issued forms. McGowan's professional-liability application, for example, separately asks about the manager's E&O and whether CGL is in place on each managed property. The issued policies, endorsements, and named-insured schedules determine what each entity's coverage actually provides. [1]
Professional liability, or E&O, addresses claims arising from management services. Hiscox lists wrongful-eviction suits and tenant-discrimination claims as examples and says its policy may cover defense costs, settlements, or judgments subject to its terms. McGowan's program adds features such as failure to place insurance, bookkeeping services, and fair-housing coverage. Whether a particular error triggers coverage depends on the issued policy's definition of professional services, exclusions, and conditions. [4][5]
Workers' compensation is governed by state law. The U.S. Department of Labor directs private employers to their state workers' compensation board rather than establishing one national requirement. Texas, for example, does not require most private employers to carry it. Obligations, employee definitions, thresholds, and exemptions vary by state—contact your state board for the current rule. [8][9]
A management company that handles rent, security deposits, and owner funds faces employee-dishonesty, funds-transfer-fraud, and social-engineering risks that E&O may not address. Travelers describes fidelity and crime insurance as protection against these fraudulent or dishonest acts. Whether a specific loss is covered depends on the issued policy's triggers, verification requirements, sublimits, and exclusions. [6]
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